by Lady Liberty 14 Replies latest watchtower bible
Does anyone know where is it where the Society is referencing how if you were to find your religon wasn't being truthful would you trust them with other beliefs? Of course they were reffering to other religions..I cannot recall where that is..anyone remember??
Thank you in advanced,
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
10/15/54 WT, Questions from Readers has this:
A false religion may have some truth in it, but it never gets rid of its many falsehoods and the truth it does have continues to be contaminated. With Jehovah’s organization the beliefs can be established from the Bible, and when some erroneous view does creep in it is soon ferreted out and discarded.
The entire article is about noo lite and how the society is clearly God's channel since they change their mind all the time about things. It's a real hoot!
This is in reference to holidays, but it fits:
Suppose you saw a piece of candy lying in the gutter. Would you pick up that candy and eat it? Of course not! That candy is unclean. Like that candy, holidays may seem sweet, but they have been picked up from unclean places. To take a stand for true worship, we need to have a viewpoint like that of the prophet Isaiah, who told true worshipers: “Touch nothing unclean.”—Isaiah 52:11.
What does the Bible Really Teach? chapter 16, par 12
Thank you both for your help..unfortunately neither of those are the article I am thinking of...shoot..I guess I will keep searching...thank you all anyhow..I will post it when I find it..it's a gem!
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
There was a recent awake article relating to that.
check the live forever book between chapters 1 and 3 maybe. I know there is an illustration there about using the wrong directions/map and likening that to being in the wrong religion
*** g87 9/8 p. 8 Future Prospects for Protestantism—And for You! ***
“In religion only one thing is of essential importance, that it be true.” This agrees with what Jesus said: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”—John 4:24; see also John 8:32; 14:6; 16:13.
Are you sure that everything your church teaches is really true? .... If, after making an honest investigation, you are less than pleased with what you see, do more than just complain. A journalist, while commenting on Karl Barth’s statement that a church is its members, logically concluded: “Church members . . . are responsible for what the church says and does.” So ask yourself: Am I willing to share responsibility for everything my church says and does? Can I really be proud of having all its members as spiritual brothers?
While considering these questions, do not overlook the significance of Revelation 18:4, 8. Speaking of the world empire of false religion, displeasing to God, it says: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues . . . [for] her plagues [shall] come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
You may sincerely believe that your church is no part of false religion that God says he will soon destroy. But your life depends upon being 100 percent sure. Are you?
You guys are AWESOME! Thank you so much for trying...but I think I finally found the article I am looking for, it's the Watchtower June 1, 1988 "Should I Change My Religion", I cannot find a scan online for it though. Oh well, the person I need it for still has their bound volumes...I think..I got rid of mine a long time ago.
Again..thanks you guys and gals...:D
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
Maybe this?
*** g70 4/22 8 Changes That Disturb People *** ChangesThatDisturbPeople
THE churches are in rapid decline. Even in the United States, where religion still enjoys perhaps the greatest popularity, nearly three out of four persons polled said that it is losing influence. Why is there this decline in religion?
One of the reasons is that people are disturbed by what is happening in their churches. Yes, millions of persons have been shocked to learn that things they were taught as being vital for salvation are now considered by their church to be wrong. Have you, too, felt discouragement, or even despair, because of what is happening in your church? A businessman in Medellín, Colombia, expressed the effect the changes have had on many.
“Tell me,” he asked, “how can I have confidence in anything? How can I believe in the Bible, in God, or have faith? Just ten years ago we Catholics had the absolute truth, we put all our faith in this. Now the pope and our priests are telling us this is not the way to believe any more, but we are to believe ‘new things.’ How do I know the ‘new things’ will be the truth in five years?”
What are some of these changes that disturb people?
*** g70 4/22 8-10 Should Meat Be Eaten on Friday? *** ShouldMeatBeEatenonFriday?
FOR centuries Catholics abstained from eating meat on Fridays. It was a Church law. Many sincerely believed it was a law of Almighty God. But now this has changed.
The fact is that the meatless-Friday rule was made an obligation only some 1,100 years ago. Pope Nicholas I (858-867) was the one who put it into effect. And how vital was it considered that Catholics abide by this rule?
A publication that bears the Catholic imprimatur, indicating approval, states: “The Catholic Church says that it is a mortal sin for a Catholic to eat meat on Friday knowingly and wilfully, without a sufficiently grave and excusing reason.” It adds: The “Church says that if a man dies in unrepented mortal sin, he will go to hell.”—RadioReplies, Rumble and Carty (1938).
Thus the devout carefully avoided eating meat on Fridays. They sincerely believed that failure to obey could lead to their eternal punishment in a fiery hell.
But then, early in 1966, Pope Paul VI authorized local Church officials to modify this abstinence requirement in their countries as they saw fit. The pope was acting in line with recommendations made at the recently completed Second Vatican Council. Thus, in one country after another, meatless Fridays were virtually abolished—in France, Canada, Italy, Mexico, the United States, and so on.
The Effect
The effect upon many devout Catholics has been devastating. “All these years I thought it was a sin to eat meat,” explained a housewife in the midwestern United States. “Now I suddenly find out it isn’t a sin. That’s hard to understand.”
If you are a Catholic, can you understand how a practice that was considered by the Church a “mortal sin” can suddenly be approved? if it was a sin five years ago, why is it not today? Many Catholics cannot understand.
When a woman in Canada was asked how she felt about the changes in her church, she replied: “I don’t know. Maybe you can tell me. What are they going to do with all those people sent to hell for eating meat on Friday?”
Not just a few Catholics have asked such questions. The change in teaching has shaken their confidence in the Church. Would you not feel the same way if what you had always been taught to be vital for salvation was suddenly considered unnecessary? Would you not be inclined to question other teachings of your church also?
The Catholic Church, however, has not completely changed its position on Friday meat abstinence. Even now Catholics are still required to abstain from eating meat on “Good Friday.” Also, in some places they must not eat meat on Fridays during the Lenten season.
But why is it considered wrong to eat meat on “Good Friday,” but permissible to do so on other Fridays of the year? It has caused thinking persons to wonder.
Many persons have begun to ask questions regarding the basis for this teaching, as well as about other Church teachings. And what especially disturbs them is that they have not received satisfying answers.
What BecomesEvident
The inability of the Church to explain its position Scripturally makes evident an important fact: The Catholic Church has not based its teachings upon what God’s Word says. Rather, it has founded many of its beliefs and practices on the unstable traditions of men.
This is obviously true with regard to Friday meat abstinence. For, look as you may, nowhere in the Bible will you find that Christians were ever instructed to refrain from eating meat on any Friday of the year, or on any other day. It is not a requirement of God. In fact, the Catholic edition of the Revised Standard Version Bible says that enjoining or commanding “abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving” is an evidence of a departure from the faith.—1 Tim. 4:1-4.
Thus, many truth-seekers are having their eyes opened to see that the Catholic Church has not been holding strictly to God’s Word. And they are wondering whether any religion that does not do so is worthy of their confidence and support.
But there are other changes that are also disturbing people today.
Here's the Truth book quote from chapter two, "Why it is Wise to Examine Your Religion" just in case it helps or if anyone else is referencing all this good stuff:
"We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on traditions of man's word? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination."
